Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for producing a package with a carton-type container made from paper, cardboard, chipboard or similar rigid or semi-rigid material with attached thereto a reclosable header section made from plastic, polymer or other flexible material, the reclosable structure being typically a zipper, but not limited thereto. The present disclosure likewise relates to the resulting package.
Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, it is known to make reclosable flexible plastic bags for the sale of foodstuffs or other consumer products. The bags or packages, while well suited for their intended uses, have typically not been used for food products that would easily be crushed or damaged during shipment. Additionally, such bags or packaging can result in inefficiencies in storage, transportation and display.
Likewise, traditional cardboard boxes are well-known for the packaging and marketing of such well-established products as cereal. However, these boxes typically are heavy and require an internal waxed paper or similar liner, typically tearable and therefore not resealable and do not protect the contents after initial opening. This increases manufacturing costs and typically does not allow the package to be filled completely with product, thereby resulting in inefficiencies in space, which increases the costs for storage, transportation and display of the product. Therefore, many of these traditional cardboard boxes, particularly those with a tearable plastic liner, have been less than satisfactory in their reclosable capabilities.
There have been several attempts at packages to address these deficiencies, but none have been entirely satisfactory. These previous attempts include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,111 entitled “Rigid-Bottomed Resealable Bag with Handles”, issued on Apr. 28, 2009 to Williams; U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,716 entitled “Flexible Container Having Flat Walls”, issued on Apr. 24, 2007 to Buchanan; U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,029 entitled “Enclosure for Resealing a Package and Method Therefor”, issued on Jan. 9, 2007 to Bein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,422 entitled “Reclosable Packaging Bag and Method for Manufacturing Same”, issued on Jun. 21, 2005 to Ichikawa et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,512 entitled “Package and Merchandiser”, issued on Aug. 29, 2000 to Teasdale; U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,416 entitled “Procedure and Package to Enable Peg Display of Food Pouch in Tent-Style Paperboard Carton”, issued on May 16, 2000 to Teasdale et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,373 entitled “Zipper Closure with Unitary Adhesive Cover Sheet”, issued on Sep. 1, 1987 to Ausnit; and U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0194386, entitled “Zipper Box Covers” published on Sep. 8, 2005 for Shai; and Japanese Patent No. 2002104511 entitled “Bag-in-Carton”, published on Apr. 10, 2002 for Makoto et al.